The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) will soon begin the rulemaking process to defund chemical and surgical alteration of children for gender transition.
The Trump administration is in “the final stage of review for a new rule that would make it a condition of hospitals participating in Medicare or Medicaid that they not provide sex trait modifications to minors,” an anonymous White House official told National Review in July.
The proposed rule would prevent direct federal government funding of such operations through Medicaid or the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), in line with a January executive order directing federal agencies to “immediately take appropriate steps to ensure that institutions receiving Federal research or education grants end the chemical and surgical mutilation of children.”
According to National Review report, hospitals that provide puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones, and gender-transition surgeries to minors will be prohibited from receiving federal funds under the new guidance.
“We are actively combing through all federal grants that go to the hospitals that still provide these procedures (surgeries, hormones, and puberty blockers) to kids, and sorting through what funding could be cut without jeopardizing the health and safety of other patients and critical research needs,” an unnamed “administration official” told the publication.
Congressional Republicans tried and failed to include a provision banning federal funding for such practices in the budget reconciliation bill President Trump signed on July 4.
Message Received
Many children’s hospitals paused gender-transition interventions after Trump signed the executive order. Hospitals that continue the controversial practice will face serious financial consequences under the new rule.
Yale New Haven Health Children’s Hospital, Connecticut Children’s Medical Center, Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, and Kaiser Permanente closed their gender transition centers in anticipation of Trump administration action.
“There has already been a great impact on the protection of children since President Trump signed the executive order,” said Beth Parlato, a senior legal advisor for the Independent Women’s Law Center. “Hospitals and clinics around the country have stopped cross-sex procedures for minors. This rule conditioning Medicaid dollars on complying with the EO will have additional impact in protecting children.”
States Take Action
Hospitals will have no choice but to comply, which is a good thing, says Parlato.
“It is unconscionable that these irreversible procedures are allowed to be done on children,” said Parlato. “We can’t ignore the financial aspect of this that hospitals and doctors receive.”
A recent U.S. Supreme Court decision confirmed the legality of these rules.
“The court in U.S. v. Skrmetti recently ruled that a Tennessee law banning chemical and surgical procedures on minors is constitutional,” said Parlato. “It is the hope that other states will follow in enacting similar laws to protect children.”
On August 1, New Hampshire became the first state in New England to ban gender transition procedures for minors.
“Ideally, we would hope for federal legislation in line with the president’s EO so it would be codified in law and not changed with a future administration,” said Parlato.
Fraud Investigations Begin
The senior administration official told National Review HHS and other relevant departments are “reviewing specific instances of questionable billing for sex trait modifications, particularly in states which have already prohibited these procedures for minors—if a credible allegation of fraud is found, Medicaid funding can be cut off quickly and entirely.”
The administration has already begun investigating and subpoenaing clinics—notably, Boston Children’s Hospital in July—that officials suspect are not obeying the law.
Eithan Haim, M.D., who blew the whistle on his former employer, Texas Children’s Hospital, secretly continuing a child gender transition program, told the House Subcommittee on the Constitution and Limited Government that some hospitals use deceptive billing to disguise gender transition procedures as other, more benign operations.
Haim told the legislators nonprofits such as the Campaign for Southern Equality provide instruction to hospitals on how to do that, citing a fact sheet on their website, which has since been taken down.
Providers Lying
These fraudulent bills are widespread, says Michelle Cretella, M.D., chair of the Adolescent Sexuality Committee of the American College of Pediatricians.
“Virtually every health professional—whether a nurse practitioner at Planned Parenthood, a pediatrician, or a specialist—who engages in promoting and/or providing transgender interventions to youth is engaged in deceitful practices and has engaged in fraud,” said Cretella.
Providers “must lie” to obtain parental consent and get paid for prescribing the drugs for “gender-affirming care” because puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones “are not proven safe or effective treatment against gender dysphoria,” Cretella told an FTC forum on the dangers and deceptive practices of those procedures on July 9, with Department of Justice members present.
“Most often, they will send insurance companies the diagnosis code E34.9, which means the patient has ‘an endocrine disorder not otherwise specified,’” said Cretella. “This is a multimillion-dollar medical industry based entirely on lies.”
“The American College of Pediatricians applauds President Trump’s administration for seeking to end these criminal medical atrocities,” said Cretella.
Harry Painter ([email protected]) writes from Oklahoma.
Internet info:
“President Trump Promised to End Child Sexual Mutilation—and He Delivered,” The White House, January 28, 2025: https://www.whitehouse.gov/articles/2025/07/president-trump-promised-to-end-child-sexual-mutilation-and-he-delivered/
“Protecting Children from Chemical and Surgical Mutilation,” The White House, July 25, 2025: https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/01/protecting-children-from-chemical-and-surgical-mutilation/
“Insurance Coding Alternatives for Trans Healthcare,” Campaign for Southern Equality, March 2019: https://web.archive.org/web/20220308055903/https:/southernequality.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/InsuranceCoding.pdf
“FTC Requests Public Comment Regarding ‘Gender-Affirming Care’ for Minors,” Federal Trade Commission, July 28, 2025: https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/news/press-releases/2025/07/ftc-requests-public-comment-regarding-gender-affirming-care-minors
Harry Painter ([email protected]) writes from Brooklyn, New York.
